Tour of Speaker’s Capitol Apartment

Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, welcomed the Capitol Press Corps on Friday into his luxury apartment behind the House chamber for a rare peek into what is said to be the only residence inside a state Capitol anywhere in the country.

The two-bedroom apartment was the center of controversy in 2006 when former Speaker Tom Craddick raised more than $1 million from a number of special interest groups and wealthy Texans to renovate the nearly 1,900-square-foot space.

The money was used to tear down a loft over the living room and to redo the apartment’s kitchen and two bathrooms. Some of the money also was spent on luxury furnishings, including two $1,000 toilets, a $1,300 custom glass shower door and a $1,500 bathtub.